KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 24 — Bursa Malaysia ended the trading week almost flat on weak sentiment, in line with most regional peers despite the upbeat Wall Street performance overnight, said an analyst.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.85 of-a-point or 0.06 per cent to end at 1,456.80 from Thursday’s close of 1,457.65.
The index opened 1.01 points firmer at 1,458.66 and moved between 1,448.09 and 1,460.19 throughout the trading day.
On the broader market, decliners led advancers 537 to 419, while 386 counters were unchanged, 893 untraded and 28 others suspended.
Turnover increased to 3.43 billion units worth RM2.58 billion from yesterday’s 3.33 billion units worth RM2.25 billion.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng told Bernama that the benchmark index was dragged down by Petronas Chemicals, which reported weaker-than-expected fourth quarter financial earnings ended Dec 31, 2022 due to slow demand and higher costs.
Petronas Chemicals lost 60 sen or 7.12 per cent to RM7.20, with 22.78 million shares traded.
Other Bursa Malaysia heavyweights Maybank advanced five sen to RM8.74, Public Bank added one sen to RM4.13, TNB advanced seven sen to RM9.72, CIMB was flat at RM5.47, and Press Metal declined seven sen to RM5.20.
As for active stocks, MY EG climbed five sen to 73.5 sen, Velesto went up 3.5 sen to 27.5 sen, Perdana Petroleum rose 1.5 sen to 19.5 sen, Sapura Energy was flat at 4.5 sen, and MTAG Group dipped 18 sen to 42.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index ticked up 12.76 points to 10,626.44, the FBMT 100 Index rose 11.36 points to 10,297.82, the FBM 70 Index widened 89.53 points to 13,505.21, the FBM ACE Index climbed 0.88 of-a-point to 5,560.05 while the FBM Emas Shariah Index trimmed 1.13 points to 10,930.59.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index put on 52.76 points to 16,021.83, the Energy Index added 26.40 points to 890.84, the Plantation Index decreased 14.03 points to 6,792.33, and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 4.64 points to 179.66.
The Main Market volume increased to 2.27 billion shares worth RM2.17 billion from Thursday’s 2.21 billion shares worth RM1.91 billion.
Warrants turnover advanced to 387.71 million units worth RM53.97 million from 327.79 million units worth RM51.70 million yesterday.
The ACE Market volume shrank to 729.15 million shares worth RM354.10 million from 735.91 million shares worth RM290.60 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 247.34 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (445.18 million); construction (73.10 million); technology (490.34 million); SPAC (nil), financial services (69.77 million); property (129.88 million); plantation (37.66 million); REITs (7.80 million), closed/fund (13,000); energy (543.59 million); healthcare (91.48 million); telecommunications and media (33.20 million); transportation and logistics (68.42 million); and utilities (28.88 million). — Bernama
